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What's going on, SAR , and others ?.

Sometime ago, a forum member posted a site regarding shipping, It is called, "Live Ships Map, A.I.S.
Every day I visit this site to see what's going on around our Coastline.
Over the last few days, The SAR Aircraft from Lerwick, plus many other SAR ships, aircraft, RNLI, boats have been congregating around an Oil Platform, not only our SAR, but others from the Eastern side of the Channel.

As there has been nothing on the news, has anyone any idea as to what's going on,?.

On the news a day or two ago there was a problem with a platform in the North Sea. If I remember correctly it had something to do with damaged pipework - I could be wrong on the actual fault. Some evacuation did take place.
Richard

Thanks Richard for throwing some light on the subject, however, seeing all the resources still around the area, it must be pretty serious.
If you can get on the site I mentioned, you will see what I mean. The cost of this excersize must be huge.
I wonder if it's another cover up?.

theres a rig off of the coast in the north sea which sprang a gas leak i believe, shut down 27 fields till it was fixed, the boulmer sea king was also out last night fairly late, around 11pm, i was watching it hover and search on the horizon looking out from south shields

Last edited by Scott Marlee; 18th January 2013 at 11:04.

Project Oblivion-Coming Soon

At The Going Down Of The Sun
And In The Morning
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!!

Scott, You would be talking about another one, not the one off Lerwick, did they evacuate everyone from all those platforms?.

Go onto the site I mentioned, and you may be able to see the helio that you saw yesterday, you are able to follow the track of any ships,or SAR aircraft and Helicopters, that have an AIS fitted, and that is nearly all of them.
The shipping, in the English Channel, is astounding. It's as busy as the Freeway into L.A.
Jim.

There is one Container ship, Marco Polo, and the miles it travels in one day is unbelievable, I also think it's the largest container ship, registered in the U.K.

There was an item, on BBC South, which included that vessel, in which they said that fuel costs have reached the point where owners are telling captains to slow down, since it can save thousands of pounds.

The platform that had the leak was the Cormorant Alpha (one of my old stomping grounds) a former Shell asset now operated by Taqa Bratani. A number of the platforms in the Shetland Basin hook into the same pipeline system - which meets land at St Fergus in the N-East of Scotland - and would have been shut down purely as a precaution (a lesson learned the hard way after Piper Alpha where two platforms that were linked back to piper continued pumping after the initial explosions, thus exacerbating the situation). The other platforms were not evacuated.

The concrete gravity base of the Cormorant Alpha ( from which the 4 legs rise is designed to store 1,000,000 barrels of oil. The legs are hollow and accessible. The leak (which was reportedly very small) could have come from something as relatively minor as a leaking valve. I understand that the gas detectors were set off after detecting gas vapours emitted from the leaked crude oil.

Many thanks for your explanation as to what may have been the cause.
Looking at the Live Ships Map AIS, it must have caused quite a stir, as so many helicopters, rescue ships etc were around the rig for two days solid. I cannot even begin to imagine what would have happened, should it have been a major oil leak.
Right up where the Cod breed,it would have devastated their stocks.
Pop along and have a look at the maps, I find it very informative, and you get to know things prior to it being on the news, providing it's newsworthy. I didn't know until a few days ago, there are 600 decomissioned rigs that need to be dismantled, but no one will take the job on, so they are just being left to rot away,

There was an item, on BBC South, which included that vessel, in which they said that fuel costs have reached the point where owners are telling captains to slow down, since it can save thousands of pounds.

Hi Edgar.
I follow that ship, every day, when it reaches it's next Port of call, the turnaround is very speedy. The maps as I have stated gives a photo of the ships, course, and speed, I guess the Captain of the Marco Polo, didn't "Hear" the order to slow down, as it seems to travel flat out at it's max speed when viewed on the map.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Hi Scott. I am certain you can find this site. Once on, you will get a list of different coloured ships, the very light blue ones are usualy the SAR Helicopters, but some are aircraft, rescue ships, RNLI, once you see one, and have IDd it, you can follow it's track, as to where it's been/going to.Once you have seen any SAR A.Cs, ships, helios, you can file it under, "My Fleet" then you will have a record of what you have selected, and click on whatever you have saved. You will also get an email, telling you when one of your "Fleet" has departed from it's home base.

Charlie and Scott. It's difficult for a start, because unless there is a "Shout" they will not be airborn. The most frequent one I see is the SAR Helicopter from Lerwick, they seem to fly quite a lot of the time, All the SARs are not, as you will have seen, not listed on the different vessels as shown on the left hand side of the screen,
It's a case of doing your own SAR and hope you get a hit, as I stated, they are shown up as very light blue.
Try all the major Ports, ie Southampton, Plymouth etc.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

I take it you registered, and that you have added that one to your "Fleet?",
There a quite a lot of SARs around at any given time, Whatever the weather. Have you tried the windspeed facility for the area they search in, when a SHOUT goes up?,
Jim.

I didn't know until a few days ago, there are 600 decomissioned rigs that need to be dismantled, but no one will take the job on, so they are just being left to rot away,

Jim.
Lincoln .7

Jim, Charliehunt.

Thanks for the heads up on the maps, will certainly be taking a nosey at them.

Decomissioning a rig comes in 2 basic stages. Firstly the abandonment of the wells. Abandoning a well is a relatively simple process although experience has taught me that when dealing with things that you can't see up to 30,000 feet below the earths surface that something will invariably try and 'bite you in the ****' !!
There are 2 basic types of wells. Producers and water injectors. A producer does just that, produces oil / gas. However in a lot of older wells, the natural reservoir pressure reduces over a period of time and another well will be drilled into the same formation. This well will inject water to force as much of the recoverable oil out as possible. This means that we get a mix of hydrocarbons and water back at surface from the producing well, which is not a problem as the platform has a 'seperation train' that does exactly what it says - seperates the water from the oil.
Unfortunately there are by-products from this practice to consider such as LSA (low specific activity) scale which is radioactive by nature, Co2, H2s, biocides etc etc. These will normally all be present in the pipe work on the platorm topsides where the basic refining process of the hydrocarbons takes place before being pumped back to town. This is the major barrier when it comes to de-commissioning the rig - costly, environmentally unfriendly, and a political hot potato if you get it wrong. no wonder the operators stay away from it for as long as they can !!

Fortunately (for me) I deal on the well's side of things, and not decommissioning !!!

As for the response from the SAR, shipping etc, personally (although these days I've swapped the North Sea for the Middle East) I'm glad that such a response was swift and comprehensive. Sometimes you can feel pretty exposed out there and knowing that the back-up is there when needed is comforting.